Drabbles and Such
by OfPaintAndOil
Summary: In which Sakura is just done with everyone around her, no matter the universe or situation. Or: a series of short drabbles of various Sakura ships offered up for your enjoyment. (To not be taken seriously in any way whatsoever.) (You have been warned.) I'M NOT TAKING ANY MORE PROMPTS AT THIS TIME. Rated T.
1. SakuraxKimimaro

Disclaimer: I own nothing relating to _Naruto_.

* * *

 **Prompt: ". . . what if there were ninja that could fight by using music to control things in nature, like harmonize with chakra and have seals all over their bodies to make natures music."**

* * *

She was never listening to Naruto again. Ever. The pain was simply not worth it.

 _Go to the Village Hidden in Sound,_ he said.

 _It'll be fun,_ he said.

The seal nearest her shoulder throbbed. Honestly, if the baka thought this mission was a good idea by even the slimmest margin, then he was insane and Sakura was seriously considering having the boy medically diagnosed as such when she got back.

The red-headed girl with the clarinet was already bad enough, but to have friends that could make up a whole freaking orchestra was worse.

Now she had to deal with the weird guy with white hair and two very serious looking red dots painted above his eyes. And he was staring at her. A lot.

 _It's just a political visit_ , Naruto had said. _You're good at those, Sakura-chan! Piece of cake!_

Sakura fisted her hands, hearing the leather from her gloves creak. She could do worse things than diagnose the Hokage as medically insane and incompetent.

Like destroy the Village Hidden in Sound. Or, as Sakura liked to think of it as, the Village Hidden in freaking _nowhere_. Honestly, the Sound people were _waaay_ too careful with those invisibility seals adorning their bodies. Too many seals on too many people had side-effects. _Negative_ side-effects. Such as making it impossible for ninjas from surrounding villages to drop in for a nice glass of sake and to drop off the newest scroll containing the agreement for prosperity and understanding that neither village would launch the next great shinobi war.

And when her clear-vision seal finally kicked in and let her find the stupid village, what do you know, some red-headed chick comes at her, clarinet already at her lips and unknown chakra vibrating around her, and, well . . . what happened next really wasn't Sakura's fault.

So she _might'v_ e released one of her seals of destruction. And she _might've_ caused a mini earthquake that leveled more than a few buildings and left major cracks in the foundation of others, but really, it wasn't her fault.

Now she was in custody, and the white-haired dude was totally checking out the diamond shaped seal on her forehead. She wondered if he was comparing it to his own little two red dots on his forehead. Maybe they could compare notes on seals.

You know, when she wasn't in custody and all the shenanigans blew over.

"It's just a scroll from the Hokage," Sakura said. Again. For the sixteenth time. "We sent messengers. Many, many messengers to give fair warning, but they could never _find_ your village."

She may or may not have said that last bit with more than a little bite to her words.

The whole _'Hidden Village'_ thing was not supposed to be taken so _literally_.

They had tied her hands together with chakra suppressing chains, the seals circling around the iron. She could easily break them but figured that it wouldn't help her cause very much.

White-haired dude blinked slowly at her. He kinda reminded her of a sloth. A sloth with pretty eyes. Sakura made a mental note to ask him about his eyeliner and how he managed to get it to look like that even in this heat.

"You shattered the ground around our village and ruined a good amount of the protection seals lining it," he said.

Sakura winced. "I've got the scroll from the Hokage in my pouch?" she offered. "For respect and peace between our villages?" She was trying really, really hard to not make it sound so much like a question.

If Sasuke had to come get her because she was tried for an unwitting (and totally not her fault) attack on the Village Hidden in Sound, she was _never_ going to hear the end of it. She could just imagine his self-satisfied smirk at her folly, even though she fucking _knew_ he would have done the exact same thing—probably would do worse, in fact.

White-haired dude reached into her pouch and pulled out the scroll that was, in fact, sealed with the Hokage's signature. He opened it and skimmed the contents, then gestured over one of guards—one of the orchestra, Sakura quipped in her mind, having eyed all the musical instruments each of them carried, noticing the trombone this guard had—and handed him the scroll. He bowed to white-haired dude and disappeared in a flash of smoke and musical notes.

Sakura snorted.

White-haired dude looked back at her. He reached down and unlocked the chakra suppressing chains around her wrists. "I'm Kimimaro," he said.

"Sakura," she said, rubbing her wrists out of reflex. The seals there flared to life.

He quirked his head at her, his gaze again going to her forehead. She knew her diamond shaped seal was likely turning white and little lines were fluttering around it, trying to spread down her body after noticing all the unknown chakra seals around her.

"Has anyone told you it's really, really hard to find your village?"

Kimimaro's face didn't change all that much, still as stoic as when she met him, but one corner of his lip quirked up at that.

Honestly, how did he get his eyeliner to _do_ that?

* * *

Author's Note: Well, there's the first prompt! PM me here or on my Tumblr with your prompt if you'd like me to do yours.


	2. SakuraxUchiha

Standard disclaimer applies.

* * *

 **Prompt: "Sakura goes to a new coffee shop to get her morning dose of caffeine since for some strange reason, the all of the other shops are out of coffee. Problems arise and Sakura just wants her coffee."**

* * *

It really shouldn't have been such a big deal. Sakura didn't even _like_ coffee all that much, but when she woke up that morning with a headache and a complete inability to think cohesive things, well, it seemed like a good idea.

Med school was hard. Obviously. Sakura was used to all-nighters and study groups scheduled back-to-back and papers and essays and exams and _what was the third muscle back from the skin on the back of the thigh called again? And that part of the pelvic bone where it kinda dips? What's it called?_

But when she woke up that morning with an inability to remember where exactly the femur and radial bone were, well, it was time for drastic measures.

So instead of doing her morning routine of waking up at five and spending an hour studying/cramming before her regular Monday morning exam (really, there was one every Monday morning. Every. Single. One), Sakura woke up at three in morning with an inability to make her body fall back asleep for another two hours and so spent the next hour attempting to study/cram. It did not go well.

So Sakura slugged down the street next to campus that was full of nothing but small, overpriced coffee shops for the desperate med student souls around four in the morning. Sakura had frequented many of them before for study groups and used them on the occasion her neighbors got too loud at home. Sometimes she ordered coffee, but most of the time she preferred teas or nothing at all. It was overpriced, of course, and she _was_ a starving medical student after all. If she needed a caffeine kick, she'd take a coke, thanks ever so much.

Most of the shops were practically open at all hours of the day. Med students didn't really sleep, and not sleeping but cramming was best done in the presence of overpriced coffee and plush couches that had seen far, far too many years and the panicked kneading of desperate med students' hands. Seriously. There were holes in the couches and chairs where stuffing was falling out. And some curious stains. Gross.

God, she was tired.

But for some unimaginable reason, none of the normal overpriced coffee shops were open. Or if they were open, a very rushed and terrified voice would scream out behind the counter the second she walked in about how _they were out of coffee, so sorry, but it was a Monday morning and their shipment was running late and please don't cry like the last three students who'd walked in._

Sakura highly suspected some of those curious stains on the couches were from numerous med students' tears. There was a lot of crying that took place in those coffee shops.

And so that was how Sakura ended up trudging down the street until she found one of the last coffee shops on the block. She cringed when she saw the flashing, exuberant sign.

She had never actually been in this one. For one, while the other coffee shops were overpriced, they were still prices Sakura could deal with and afford on a regular basis if she really wanted to. But this particular coffee shop had a reputation of being _mega_ overpriced.

Also, it was owned by assholes.

Now, Sakura thought many people deserved the title _Asshole_. But the stories surrounding this coffee shop and the family that ran it spread like wildfire. The men (and they were all men, oddly enough) that ran the shop were devastatingly handsome. Or so Sakura heard. She had never peaked in to check for herself.

But that wasn't what gave them the titles of _Assholes_. It was the numerous stories about how all the men played on the affection and attention from the med student girls (and some boys) when they so obviously weren't interested.

Apparently there was some unsaid rule of _look, don't touch_. Girls and boys could come in, get amazing service and even more expensive coffee, flirt with the workers if they so desired, but the second anyone attempted anything more, they were very suddenly booted out. They were given the cold shoulder until they no longer wanted to go to this particular coffee shop.

Sakura understood what was happening. Good business sometimes meant good eye-candy, and using your hot workers to draw people in was smart. And flirting was fine, too, but what Sakura had a problem with was how it was done. Adding stress and maybe heartbreak to an already tender and high-strung med student was unacceptable, especially when the workers knew exactly what they were doing.

But . . . Sakura really, really wanted that coffee.

So she went in.

 _Chic_ was the first word to come into mind when she looked around. Everything had that hint of fancy and expensive taste attached to it in a way that suddenly made Sakura self-conscious of her ratty sneakers and three-year-old pair of scrubs.

There were a few other people in the shop, spread out over the highchairs and lush couches (which did not have curious stains and stuffing falling out of them). All looked tired and cranky, and there was a suspicious looking guy with white hair in the corner, bobbing his head to whatever he was listening to from his headphones and blinking wide, violet eyes that darted all around the coffee shop in a way that made Sakura highly suspect he'd taken some interesting drugs in the past few hours. Or maybe just had too many coffee drinks. Same thing, really.

She headed for the counter where a man was hunched over, digging for something underneath it. There was some muttered curses and Sakura shifted from foot-to-foot, wondering if she should cough to get his attention or just wait for him to notice her.

But then he looked up, and Sakura had to blink an embarrassing amount of times to understand that what she was looking at was all _hair_.

From afar she'd assumed it was a cap of some sort, but not hair. Not luscious, down to his waist black hair.

Now the man swept all that hair from his face, pursing his lips as he stood all the way up and looked over her in a very obvious way. Sakura narrowed her eyes and stood straighter.

Something shone in his eyes at that, and a large smile split across his face. " _Hello_ there," he purred.

Sakura supposed he was attractive. If you liked the tall, dark, and handsome kind of thing. But all Sakura could see when she looked at this man was a giant, neon sign above his head that read _Asshole_.

She was also married to her studies. And her bed. Yes. She was in a very happy, if not distant, relationship with her bed.

Idly, Sakura tried to remember the last time she was sexually attracted to anyone. It had been . . . a while. A very, very long while. That wasn't to say Sakura hadn't found people attractive, but most of her brain cells had tunnel vision when it came to her studies, and more than a passing fancy of some of the more attractive specimens of the male species was all she felt anymore.

Sakura smiled tightly and looked at the menu hanging from the ceiling above tall, dark, and handsome. She wasn't a coffee snob and didn't know what half of the words on the board even meant.

Something with sugar sounded good. Caramel, chocolate . . .

"Would you like a . . . recommendation?" Tall, dark, and handsome asked, lowering his long lashes when her eyes met his again. He was practically fluttering them.

Sakura shrugged. "I'm not really a coffee person."

His eyes widened comically at that. "Not a coffee person?" he repeated, putting a hand over his heart dramatically. "Well, love, we can't have that! Let me make you something . . . _special_." His voice caressed the word, full of intent.

Sakura tried not to gag. It was too damn early for this shit.

She nodded instead, eyes darting away and towards the door into the back room meant for employees only.

Another man came through that door. Sakura had to do a double take when she saw the hair.

She narrowed her eyes judgingly. Tall, dark, and handsome #2. Great.

His long black hair was tied away from his face instead of hanging every which way like tall, dark, and handsome #1. There were marks under his eyes that made him look amazingly tired and done with life in general, and Sakura felt a moment of kinship with him just because of that. Her own eyes probably didn't look any better.

Tall, dark, and handsome #1 was busy making her coffee . . . whatever it was. She should probably be paying attention to what he was doing, but mostly she was wondering how much she was going to have to pay for what undoubtedly would be a very expensive _special_ coffee.

Tall, dark, and handsome #2 noticed her when he was halfway towards the counter, blinking blurredly at her and then turning to look at tall, dark, and handsome #1. He didn't look like much of a morning person.

"Uncle," tall, dark, and handsome #2 said, watching tall, dark, and handsome #1 hum something off tune and do a little hip shimmy to the annoyingly upbeat music playing overhead. "What are you making?"

"Coffee!" tall, dark, and handsome #1 said. He said it the way someone would say _Jesus!_ when they were really enthusiastic about a church sermon and were doing that thing where they held their hands up in the air like they were hoping to touch the feet of Christ Himself. "This _is_ a coffee shop, Itachi-kun."

So. Tall, dark, and handsome #2's name was Itachi. Sakura liked her made up name better.

Itachi watched the man—his uncle, apparently—make the coffee thing-what-have-you for a moment longer before doing one long, slow blink. "That's not on the menu," he said in a monotone, and looked over at Sakura accusingly, like she was the menace that dared to ask for something _special_.

She crossed her arms over her chest. "Don't look at me," she said. "I don't know a thing about coffee, least of all what to ask for."

Itachi looked almost startled for a minute, taken aback that she was hissing something at him so early in the morning. Then he did one of those long, slow blinks at her, finally actually _looking_ at her.

She just glared back.

And he stared.

She glared.

He stared.

Sakura wondered if it was too late to walk out, her coffee be damned.

Then another tall, dark, and handsome walked in through the same door Itachi had just come through, though he immediately locked onto Sakura and a big, shit-eating grin stretched across his face, obviously not noticing or not caring about their little sharing match.

He hopped over to Sakura—literally _hopped_ , the bastard, obviously very much a morning person or on some very good medication . . . or had had a few cups of coffee already—and leaned over the counter, practically thrusting his face up against hers. She noticed that his hair—while just as luscious looking—was not long as the two previous tall, dark, and handsomes' were. It was curly for one thing and ended just below his ears. It was still a little damp, obviously having just come out of the shower.

The next thing Sakura noticed was that he was wearing some kind of cologne that made her nose burn, but almost in a pleasant, _wakey wakey it's time to be a productive member of society and do stuff_ way. A smell that made the smeller remember that the person was, in fact, a male adult and apparently attractive. You know, in a sexual way. Or something. After a moment Sakura decided that she actually kinda liked it.

God, she was tired.

"Well, _hello_ there," he purred in a way that made it so very obvious he was related to tall, dark, and handsome #1.

Tall, dark, and handsome #1, obviously overhearing, _harrumphed_ loudly.

Tall, dark, and handsome #3 ignored him. Sakura wondered if that was trait he'd picked up working in this coffee shop.

Sakura blinked at him that was vaguely Itachi-ish. "Hi," she said, trying not to be too awkward. It was three in the goddamn morning, for fuck's sake. She shouldn't have to be social until _at least_ eight.

" _You're_ in the med student program," tall, dark, and handsome #3 said, pointing a finger at her, though not accusingly. "Just like Itachi." He then pointed that same finger over to Itachi, who was still blinking tiredly over at Sakura, staring.

"Ah, yes," Sakura said, uncertainly. Honestly, how long did it take to make a freaking coffee?

"I'm Shisui!" tall, dark, and handsome #3 said suddenly. He gestured to his apron—the same one all three tall, dark, and handsomes were wearing, now that Sakura looked—where his name was printed in fancy gold lettering.

Sakura supposed she should have noticed that before. But. Yeah. Three in the morning.

"Sakura," she said.

She saw his eyes widen comically as his gaze flickered to her hair. He licked his lips, and it was almost _at_ her, which freaked her out. How did someone even manage that?

Shisui leaned further on the counter and said, "What's a pretty little thing like you walking around town so early in the morning?" He winked. "Or maybe it's just really late for you?"

She shrugged, not sure if he was inferring that she might have been partying all night or if she was up all night studying. He _did_ know she was a med student. "Couldn't sleep," she mumbled.

His gaze went soft for a moment, a little less leering. "Yeah, that one—" he flicked his head over to where Itachi was still standing, still staring. "—is the same way. Never sleeps and gets roped into taking early morning shifts."

Itachi narrowed his eyes at Shisui. " _You're_ the one who makes me take early morning shifts—"

"You poor dear!" Shisui went on, like Itachi wasn't staring daggers into his head. Tall, dark, and handsome #1 starting singing along with the lyrics to the horrible, atrocious, far too happy sounding song playing overhead.

 _"_ _Sucking too hard on your lollipop,  
Or love's gonna get you down,  
Sucking too hard on your lollipop,  
Or love's gonna get you down.  
Say love, say love,  
Or love's gonna get you down.  
Say love, say love,  
Or love's gonna get you down."_

"They just give you all so much to _do_ ," Shisui said empathically, again completely ignoring what tall, dark, and handsome #1 was singing completely off tune. He definitely picked up that trait working here. "It's just not fair."

Sakura shrugged. "I don't really mind," she mused. "I mean, it's a lot, but worth it. I like what I study."

Itachi was staring at her again. "I like it too," he said, almost murmuring it. "It'll be worth it one day."

Sakura nodded, feeling her face relax, just a bit.

A very tall coffee cup was suddenly slammed down in front of her, and Sakura jumped. Shisui had to back up a step to avoid getting rolled over by tall, dark, and handsome #1. Her eyes darted down to his apron—now that she knew to look for it—and saw _Madara_ scrawled on the front of it.

"One venti coffee," Madara began happily, his eyes gleaming in a way that made Sakura almost back up a step. He'd obviously had a few coffee drinks beforehand.

He then went on to explain what was all was in the drink, and Sakura listened and blinked slowly and tried to understand what all he was saying, but it was like sitting in her very first med class right after she finished college all over again, where she just sat silently and wondered at her choices in life.

She caught the words _caramel_ and _soy milk_ and _whipped_ and _espresso,_ but mostly it was a jumble of words Sakura had no intention of ever learning.

"Okay," she said, when he was finished and looking at her expectantly, like he was fully expecting her to swoon at his amazing coffee making skills. "Thanks. How much do I owe you?"

Madara visibly deflated before her eyes. "That's it? ' _Okay_ '?" He gestured at the coffee cup that was sitting between Sakura and Madara and Shisui, all three of them looking at it with perplexed expressions. Madara's said, _How could you fail me, oh wonderful mug of Joe!?_ Shiusi's said, _I have no idea what's happening._ And Sakura's said, _This is the worst life decision I have made in over a week._

Itachi was just hovering in the back, still staring. Sakura wondered if he had fallen asleep on his feet.

Sakura lifted the coffee cup to her lips after a moment and took a tentative sip. It was hot enough to burn her tongue, but she had to admit it was . . . good. Not the best thing she'd ever tasted, but as far as coffee went she knew this was pretty darn amazing. It was super sweet and seemed to be drowning in more sugar and cream than actual coffee, but Sakura found she didn't mind that _at all_.

She smiled up at Madara. "It's good. Thank you."

And the grin was back. Madara flipped back his ridiculously long hair. "Ah, I knew it! Who could possibly doubt my amazing coffee making skills!" He winked sensually at her.

Sakura was digging out her wallet. "How much—"

Madara gasped loudly and leaned back, looking amazingly offended. "You wound me! It's on the house, of course! ' _Not a coffee person_ ,'" he muttered, shaking his head like this was a synonym of saying someone wasn't a sensual-hair-sweep person. Like someone wasn't a tall-dark-and-handsome person.

It was then Sakura noticed the writing on the coffee cup. It was a phone number. There were drawn in stars around it. And there was something else written on it, long enough that she had to turn the mug around in her hand to read it all.

 _If you were ground coffee you'd be espresso because you're so fine._

Madara saw her notice and winked at her again.

Shisui narrowed his eyes and grabbed Madara by the strings of his apron and pulled him back. "Don't mind him, sweetheart," he said loudly. "He's just an old pervert."

Sakura looked over to Itachi, who was now throwing back something that she suspected was espresso shots. He turned to look at her and shook his head slowly, like an apology. "You're one to talk, Shisui," Itachi murmured.

Shisui turned to yell something at Itachi and Sakura took that moment to take a few steps back. "Well," she said, still walking backwards, "thanks for the coffee." She held it up in a kind of salute.

"Call me, gorgeous!" was shouted behind her, and she was pretty sure it was by Madara. She then heard a very high-pitched scream and one loud exclamation of, "Let go of my hair, you short-haired peasant!"

Sakura nearly tripped over her own feet getting out the door and then took another tentative sip of her coffee. Well, it hadn't all been bad, she thought. Free coffee.

* * *

Author's Note: I feel that I should inform y'all that I wrote this at midnight and was extremely sleep deprived. Maybe that will explain . . . whatever this is.

So. There's the second prompt. I swear it wasn't supposed to be this long. I feel that Itachi wouldn't be a morning person but would still making himself get up ridiculously early. Also, school's hard, you guys.

I am, in fact, more of a tea person than a coffee person, except for when I really need it. I just kinda stare awkwardly at coffee menus and am overall confused by the words.

PM me here or on my Tumblr with your prompt if you'd like me to do yours.

Please **REVIEW**!


	3. SakuraxAkatsuki

**Prompt: ". . . what if Sakura was a surfer and went through high school with everybody and met Akatsuki and everyone else."**

* * *

Sakura couldn't quite remember who it was who told her high school was an adventure and that moving to California in the middle of her senior year was going to be a good idea, but whoever it was deserved a punch in the face. Like Hermione and Draco. She could break someone's nose, too.

It wasn't all bad in the beginning. There were the beaches, and while they were over packed and full of sweaty, annoyingly high-pitched girls and too tan, fit guys most of the time, Sakura did learn how to surf. She wasn't necessarily good at it but, hey, she tried.

Her surf instructor was hot, so that was a plus. He was a little too leering and enthusiastic, and had the poor habit of ending every sentence with a "yeah!" said in the most Californian accent she'd ever heard. She'd thought the Californian accent thing was a rumor from Hollywood movies, but apparently it was not.

He also had the most stunning hair she'd ever seen. Blonde as the sun and possibly dyed, long and flowing and it turned a darker shade when it was wet with salt water. Sakura had thought salt water was bad for hair, but apparently not.

"Sakura-chan!" Deidara yelled, waving her over in the hallway. He had some redhead trailing behind him at a much slower pace.

He was also another student in her year. How that happened she still wasn't sure.

Sakura tentatively waved back. She eyed the art studio she was near, thought about making a run for it, but knowing Deidara he'd probably just think she was playing and run after her.

She was going to kill her mother for making her move here.

"Hi, Deidara," she said when he was close enough. She was jostled by another student in the busy halls, trying to get to class.

"I haven't seen you lately, yeah," Deidara pouted.

"I don't think the surfing board agrees with me," she muttered disdainfully. She hadn't thought surfing could be such a tiring sport, but she was proven painfully—quite literally—wrong after the first lesson when she was thrown off the board more than a few times.

Also, she might have a slight—just _slight_ , okay?—fear of the ocean ever since Naruto had made her watch _Jaws_ with him.

"That's why you need more lessons, yeah!"

Sakura noticed the redhead just now walking up to them, blinking slowly at her. He nodded his head in greeting.

"Oh, Sakura-chan! This is Sasori-danna, yeah!" Deidara said, flipping his hair back from where it had tumbled over his shoulder.

Sasori just blinked at her, looking her up and down. "Have you ever sat for a portrait?" he asked suddenly. More like drawled. Definitely a pot-head.

"Uh," Sakura said, since there really didn't seem to be another response possible for that. "No?" It sounded like a question.

He licked his lips, eyeing her hair. "I'd like to make a puppet of you."

"Um." Sakura looked to Deidara for help.

Deidara was gapping at Sasori. "Sakura-chan's much better suited for sculpting, yeah!"

Sakura backed away slowly and almost tripped over another student. "I've . . . got to get to class," she said hurriedly.

And then she speed-walked—she did not run, okay, just walked . . . really fast—away.

* * *

Author's Note: This was all I could get out for this prompt. Super short, I know.


	4. SakuraxNaruto

Standard disclaimer applies.

* * *

 **Prompt: "Naruto comforting Sakura after she loses a patient."**

* * *

It was nearing late afternoon when Naruto got the summons.

He'd actually been getting work done (for once). Shikamaru was dozing off in the chair across from him, head flung back over the seat and his mouth wide open. No war meant more paperwork it seemed.

Naruto rubbed a hand over his face and sighed as he re-read the newest treaty between the Hidden Leaf and the Sound village. He was pretty sure it was all very condescending and that Shikamaru had handed it to him with narrowed eyes, but it was hard to tell anymore with the shadow user.

He looked over and thought about throwing a pen at the man, but his ego was still recovering after the last time he threw something at Shikamaru when he was sleeping and almost been thrown out the window for his trouble. Some respect for the Hokage would have been appreciated.

And then a little dog appeared in the office—one of Kakashi's that didn't seem to like Naruto very much—and Shikamaru didn't even flinch.

Shikamaru did, however, wake up when Naruto flew out the window. (This time by his own means.)

Shikamaru blinked slowly and looked at the little pug suddenly sitting at his feet. "And _you're_ the Hokage's advisor?" the little dog scoffed.

Shikamaru rubbed the back of his neck as he worked out the kinks and thought about chucking the little runt out the window too. It was becoming a favorite pastime of his, along with cloud watching and napping.

"He went to the hospital," the dog said, even though Shikamaru hadn't asked. "There was an accident."

 _Accident._ Huh.

Shikamaru sighed and drawled, "How much is the recovery going to cost, do you think?"

The pug hesitated. "It was a child."

"Ah." So the treasury was going to take a hit, then.

He internally groaned and flung his head back, pointedly ignoring the ever growing mountain of scrolls and paperwork on the Hokage's desk.

Damn troublesome.

* * *

Sakura Uzumaki nee Haruno was having a rather bad day.

It started with waking up late with Naruto, knowing that he had a rather pressing meeting with the elders and they were already a pain in the ass with their condescending remarks about Naruto being Hokage. And Sakura really didn't want to have to deal with more of their damn opinions about their private lives—not that she cared a whole lot what they thought about her, but a woman could only take so many degrading remarks before she broke a few noses, and she was still in trouble about the last time that happened.

And after dragging Naruto through their morning routine and getting him to his meeting barely on time, _she_ was late to the hospital. Which was problematic because she pretty much ran it and no one seemed to know what to do with a scalpel or how to heal a bruise without her.

And then around noon a new batch of patients came in. Which wasn't all that odd—it _was_ a hospital in a shinobi village after all—and most of the patients were just a bunch of stupid genin who'd overestimated their strength.

But they were short staffed and so Sakura took over for some of the more pressing injuries. But they were genin and therefore difficult to deal with and many attempted to climb out windows when she wasn't looking. (She would swear Kakashi had been teaching them all.) And so she was stuck spending hours on a group of patients that should have only taken her half an hour at most to heal.

And then one of her nurses came in and told her about a child who just came in.

Not a genin, not a shinobi. Just a civilian boy barely six years old who'd fallen off a tree when fooling around and no one was looking.

But that was the thing: he was a _civilian_ boy. And civilians came second to shinobi, even stupid genin with no life-threatening injuries. And they were still short staffed, so Sakura had to turn her nurse away and made the boy wait.

No one told Sakura the boy also had pneumonia. No one told her he was coughing and wheezing.

Instead Sakura walked into the boy's room two hours later, the stupid genin sent on their way with sore ears after Sakura was done lecturing them all, lying in his mother's arms while she looked up at Sakura with horror in her eyes.

Sakura took one look at the pale face being cradled with a spot of red on his lips and called for a nurse to get the mother the hell out of the room.

And then she got to work. An average case of pneumonia she could heal in about twenty minutes, tops.

This wasn't an average case and it wasn't pneumonia.

She got twelve minutes before the boy stopped breathing, hacking his lungs out with the blood. Tuberculosis. It was _fucking_ tuberculosis that the stupid nurse hadn't looked long enough to diagnose because civilians came second to shinobi and they were short staffed. It was _fucking_ tuberculosis that they had a vaccine for, but the mother had never gotten it for the civilian boy, what with the war and things other than making vaccines had taken priority.

A poor civilian family who hadn't thought to take the boy to the hospital when he coughed up blood and not until he fell from a tree and broke his leg.

And then the mother was screaming and there was blood on Sakura's clothes and the boy was pale and _where were those fucking nurses_.

Someone else was calling her name and Sakura looked up to find wide, blue eyes staring down at her in concern, and Sakura realized she was still standing in the patient room, the little dead boy gone along with the mother and there was plaster crumbled underneath her nails from where she'd punched in the wall.

Naruto swiped a thumb underneath her eye where the distraught mother had taken a swat at her and her nail had gotten her, leaving a thin red mark. It would be a waste of her chakra to heal such a thing. A damn waste.

"Let's go home, Sakura-chan," Naruto murmured.

She just looked at him, then nodded. "Yeah."

"Are you hungry?"

"No."

"Well, I am," Naruto said, then took her hand, dusted the crumbled bits of wall off her palm. "And you promised me we'd go get ramen one of these nights." He smiled down at her.

She made a face at that. "You eat too much ramen. It's not healthy."

He fluttered his lashes down at her. "I promise I'll make it up to you later," he fake-whispered, attempted to purr at her suggestively. Sakura snorted.

She looked at the crumbling wall. "Oops."

Naruto shrugged. "Eh, it happens. That's what the reconstruction funds are for."

She winced. She'd been responsible for the use of a good portion of those funds.

Something heavy was sitting in her chest, the same something that'd been there since the war, since she was a genin and had taken her first kill when she was barely thirteen.

She did not cry. She did not mourn.

"I have patients to see," she said.

Naruto wrapped an arm around her and kissed her forehead. The forehead she hated as a child—something so mundane now that she knew what true hate meant. Hate for wars and death and children dying for no good reason at all.

"There will always be another patient," Naruto whispered against her hair. "Another child we can't save, a war we can't prevent. A ramen break won't make a difference in that."

His hand was warm and heavy on her back as he led her to the door and outside the hospital to his favorite ramen shop where a steaming bowl was set down in front of her while she did not cry, did not fracture.

And Naruto talked. And talked. Sakura nodded and listened and lifted the food to her mouth. Swallowed. Nodded. Smiled something a little less distant.

And when they went home and Sakura laid in bed, heavy with the guilt and sorrow, she breathed and added it to the pile already coiled in her gut. And when Naruto wrapped an arm around her in his sleep, she closed her eyes and let it go, for as long as she could before it all came back to haunt her, and let Naruto's breathing sooth her into something that might have resembled a deep sleep.


	5. SakuraxNaruto (again)

Standard disclaimer applies.

* * *

 **Prompt: "Naruto can't give Sakura a child because he's sterile after all the years of his and kyuubis chakra merging."**

* * *

There was something called a warrior's minute.

One slowed down, discombobulated minute. Made up of nothing but breath and heartbeats and death. It was that moment before death, yours or someone else's.

Get up.

Get up _now_.

Stand up straight, breathe fire down death's shadow, grin something feral. Swallow the horror, the pain, make it out alive. That was all that mattered. That was the _only_ thing that mattered every time Naruto merged his very being with Kurama's. Chakra, body, emotions, mental being— _everything_. Nothing withstanding.

Kurama warned him, hissed the prices into his ear without Naruto ever understanding—not really—what he was going to _take_ , what Naruto had to sacrifice.

His body? Alright. His mind? On conditions. Chakra? Of course.

Stand straight, grin feral. A warrior's minute. Neji's minute. Madara's minute. His mother and father's minute.

He was most certainly going to die and he needed to _pay attention_ to Kurama's voice, but he couldn't.

And when all was said and done, and that warrior's minute was all used up and he was still standing, body slumped, emotions frayed, mouth turned down and tears running down his face, he told himself it was worth it. The Hidden Leaf would rebuild, would grow stronger than before and learn from their mistakes. His one warrior's minute would prevent future generations from having _their_ warrior's minute.

Kami, he _hoped_.

 _Get up,_ Kurama hissed.

Get up _now_.

* * *

And he was right.

Sometimes Naruto would swear he could feel the hole in his chest from where Kurama carved out his price. Would press his palm against his chest and wonder when he would ever be out of the fight.

Sakura was standing in front of him, tears of fury running down her face and a red mark on his cheek still stinging.

He had come to the conclusion long ago that he had never truly gotten out of the fight. And was never done paying the price Kurama had demanded in blood and power.

"I'm sorry," he whispered.

Sakura clenched her fists and Naruto tensed in apprehension of another slap to the face, maybe a chakra infused punch to the gut.

Instead she grabbed his face between her palms and pulled his face down to hers, clashing her mouth to his in an almost painful motion. Her teeth clanked off his own and he tasted blood from where she'd bitten his bottom lip.

"I'm in love with you, you _baka_ ," she hissed after she pulled away. Naruto was limp in her grip, feeling the strength in her small form, the power in her gaze. He was always amazed at how the village seemed to view _him_ as the icon of the Land of Fire, of strength and courage and everything good, when he really wasn't. Sakura was the one with hell's fury running through her veins, the one who could give and take life.

She hadn't asked him for anything— _not one fucking thing_ —since she begged him to bring Sasuke-teme home all those years ago. She'd seen too many of his warrior's minutes.

But now she had. One thing. She wanted _one_ thing from him and he couldn't give it to her.

"You're not _listening_ ," she hissed at him, glaring. Her bottom lip was trembling.

"I can't give you—"

" _I'm_ _in love_ _with you_ ," she said again.

"—what you deserve," he finished, almost harshly.

"And what do you know about what I deserve?" Sakura said after a pause, softly, painfully. Her face was blank, but—oh, Kami—her _eyes_. Her eyes were what brought men to their knees.

"The villagers all thought you deserved to be a social pariah. Gaara thought you deserved to die. Pein thought you deserved to be used as a gateway to get power. So many people thought you _deserved_ nothing because of who you are, of what lives inside of you."

She stepped towards him, bringing her chest flush with his, with that aching hole always inside of him.

"I deserve _you_ ," she whispered. "Because I want you and I'm possessive and if I have to start another damn shinobi war to get you I'd bring all the lands to their fucking _knees_."

A tear slipped down Naruto's cheek. "I don't think I ever really left that battlefield."

She shrugged. "None of us really did."

"I can't give you a child."

"Don't be archaic. We'll adopt—Kami knows there are enough orphans of war." She leaned up to kiss away the tear on his cheek, her mouth warm and wet on his face and he let out a sob in response.

Naruto wrapped his arms around her slim waist, knew the residual scars from the war lining every inch of her body better than his own. Thought about Kurama's price, about his warrior's minute that never really ended.

She wrapped her arms around him and held tight.

* * *

Author's Note: Please **REVIEW!**


	6. SakuraxNaruto (again x2)

Standard disclaimer applies.

* * *

 **Prompt: "How about a prompt where Sakura proposes to Naruto?"**

* * *

"There he is," Ino said. "That fucker."

Sakura scrunched her nose. "I'm about to propose to ' _that fucker_.'"

"Exactly. What kind of man makes the woman propose?"

She rolled her eyes and straightened out the nice—albeit low cut—dress Ino threw at her the moment she got home from the hospital earlier that day, having somehow gotten into her apartment and immediately coming at her with a curling iron and a wicked gleam in her eye. She really needed to update those seals and traps.

"If you're going to buck the trend and do this your way," Ino had said glumly, "then at least look good doing it."

"He's seen me covered in blood, gore, sweat, and intestines," Sakura had deadpanned. "I don't really think he has high standards."

Ino had snorted. "It's _Naruto_. He doesn't have high standards about anything."

"Ramen."

"What?"

Sakura had shuddered. "He has high standards about his ramen," she'd said again, thinking back to the time in the Land of Tea when Naruto couldn't find a good ramen shop and had (nearly) destroyed a building. They had been oh-so politely told to never come back. She was still smarting from that one and the loss of her favorite vacation spot with the really, really good exotic tea.

Now, Ino just looked her over with a critical eye. "I still say the red lipstick would have been perfect."

"Too slimy feeling."

"Kami, forehead, it's just for one—"

" _Shh_." Sakura held a finger up to Ino's mouth, cutting her off. Ino still had one finger in the air, looking down at her in astonishment.

"I'm about to go propose to my boyfriend and I'd really like it now if you could go make sure Shikamaru has everything set up and hasn't fallen asleep somewhere." She batted her lashes prettily.

Ino narrowed her eyes and spoke through the finger still held against her lips. "And I'll make sure to be close enough so that if that fucker says no I can do a mind wipe and make this whole evening go away." She grinned dangerously, her own red lipstick smearing against Sakura's finger. She grimaced.

"He won't say no," Sakura murmured, casting a glance his way, where Naruto was sitting in the restaurant waiting for her and throwing uncomfortable looks around. He never did look comfortable by himself, a habit likely left over from his childhood.

Ino lowered her lashes, looking down at her as Sakura removed her finger from Ino's lips. "No," Ino said softly. "He really won't."

* * *

Ino found Shikamaru asleep in the kitchen.

She kicked his feet and he yelped, sitting up too fast and hitting his head on the table above him. Ino rolled her eyes and glared at the kitchen staff who were either watching with amusement or ignoring them both completely. She never did understand how Shikamaru convinced people to just let him fall asleep anywhere. Like a busy kitchen where there were health standards.

"Troublesome woman," he muttered.

Ino kicked him again.

"Is everything set up?" she asked, inspecting her red nails.

Shikamaru grunted. Ino took it as an affirmative.

"So," Shikamaru drawled when Ino didn't move and obviously wasn't going to let him fall back asleep again. "Who do you think is going to propose first?"

Ino sighed. "That fucker better. He sure as hell made her wait long enough."

"Long enough to do it herself. He has the ring and everything." Shikamaru thought back to the chaotic and troublesome weekend where Naruto dragged him around to every jewelry shop trying to find the perfect ring. He hadn't gotten _one_ good nap in.

"Yeah," Ino said, sighing again. Then she grinned wickedly. Shikamaru shuddered. "But it makes for an interesting evening."

* * *

Author's Note: Please **REVIEW**!


	7. SakuraxItachixSasuke

Standard disclaimer applies.

* * *

 **Prompt: "Harry Potter universe (pleasepleaseplease)"**

* * *

It wasn't her fault when Sasuke Uchiha fell off his broom in the middle of the Ravenclaw and Slytherin Quidditch game. He didn't see her coming up behind him, about to catch the snitch. Maybe it was more like tearing it out of his grasp, but his fingertips had only grazed it, so she called it a fair play. Maybe a bit of a dirty play, but she was just so _done_ with the sneers in the hallways about her blood status. (She wasn't even a Gryffindor!)

But her damn conscious was getting the best of her, and so Sakura found herself sitting in the infirmary, still in her blue Quidditch uniform, waiting for him to wake up. She wasn't going to _apologize_ , of course. That would be bloody mad.

But the nurse didn't know shit about healing spells, and so Sakura was the one to pour her own potion down his throat while he was still unconscious, hiding the bottle before the nurse came back.

She just wanted to see him wake up. That was all. Her leg bounced restlessly, shooting nervous glances to the door every few seconds. She really didn't want to deal with the Slytherin team coming in and seeing her next to _the_ Sasuke Uchiha. They'd just call her a Mudblood again and make lewd remarks about what she might want from the youngest son of the Uchiha family, not only pureblood, but part of the _sacred effing twenty-eight._

She didn't hear the door to the infirmary creak open. She was chewing on her lip and picking at a spot of mud on her fingernail—from her filthy hands to go with her filthy blood—when Itachi Uchiha walked up to stand beside her. Sakura just barely managed to not fall off her chair in surprise.

She was the Ravenclaw Seeker, for Rowena's sake!

Itachi Uchiha was still dressed in his Quidditch uniform like Sakura, only where hers were blue, his were green. No Uchiha was ever put in any house but Slytherin, of course.

As far as a pureblooded Slytherin went, Itachi wasn't that bad. He didn't sneer at her in the hallways or call her a Mudblood. Instead he just kind of looked through her, like she wasn't even there. She certainly wasn't in his orbit.

When he walked up beside her, not even glancing at her, Sakura was debating whether she should just get up and leave or stay out of principle. Pureblood or not, he didn't get to intimidate her into leaving when all she was trying to do was check-in on his little brother.

But it was just so _awkward_ , sitting there with Itachi so pointedly ignoring her. Especially after she'd caught sight of the skull and snake tattoo on his forearm a few weeks ago.

Sakura had finally decided to swallow her pride and was getting up to leave when Itachi said, "Thank you for checking on him, Haruno. And for the potion."

He still wasn't looking at her and Sakura had to swallow down the slight panic she felt that he'd noticed she'd given Sasuke her own healing potion. Just how long had he been standing in the infirmary, watching her?

He could make her life infinitely more difficult. She didn't think she'd get in too much trouble for giving another student—an unconscious student at that—a harmless healing potion, especially when she was top in her Potions class. But if Itachi Uchiha told his little Slytherin friends that she'd done it . . .

To be fair, Itachi Uchiha didn't seem all that interesting in gossip or talking unnecessarily to any of the purebloods in his orbit, seeming to keep to himself and his studies, but he _was_ a Slytherin. Cunning and manipulative arseholes.

"Don't go the Quidditch World Cup."

Sakura had been on her way out the door, and she spun around with fire in her eyes when he said that.

"You don't get to tell me—"

"Haruno." The way he said it was quiet, without the usual undertone of derision and disgust from other purebloods. "Trust me. You don't want to be at the World Cup." His hand started to go to his forearm then, just a bit of a flinch, and then settled back down like nothing had happened.

Then he actually _looked_ at her, and Sakura realized this really was the first time he'd ever looked at her without it having been an accident in the hallway or at dinner from tables away.

His face softened, just slightly. Sakura nodded, her voice stuck in her throat.

He turned back to his little brother and Sakura stood there for a moment longer before swallowing thickly and walking quickly out the door.

She didn't know why he'd given her this kind of information, but she wasn't going to waste it. So she headed to the Gryffindor dorms to find Naruto.

Maybe it was in thanks for giving Sasuke the potion? She didn't know, but she'd think about it later.

Sakura felt a slow smile curl her lips, felt the holster up her sleeve that hid her wand. She most certainly wasn't going to _not_ go to the Quidditch World Cup, that was for sure.

* * *

Author's Note: And I finally got to another prompt. Here ya go. Merry Christmas.

I am still taking prompts, but please tell me your prompt in a PM here or on Tumblr. Please do not put your prompt in the comments of any of my stories.

Please **REVIEW!**


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